My Inspiration
by AngelmayLaugh
Summary: A story about how someone can gain inspiration and acknowledgement from the people they never even met.


**Hello! It's AngelmayLaugh coming to you with another series!**

 **I'm sorry i haven't updated my other stories. It's because I felt I needed a few change of pace.**

 **This story suddenly came to me and I would really like your opinions on this one.**

 **I want to see your reactions on this story to determined if it should be whether to continue the story or not.**

 **So here goes! Enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**

"Talking"

 _Flashback_

" _Thinking_ "

" _Written_ "

"Congratulations on your promotion, Kurenai!"

It was evening at the Village of Konoha, as the twilight sky looms over the horizon and the sun settling in the west. The most powerful village in all of the Elemental Nations enjoyed the relaxing feeling as normal villagers came home to their respective houses from their workplace. The mood was sleepy and peaceful, aside from a certain house in a certain housing district in said village. One Kurenai Yūhi found herself blinking in shock at the spectacle before her. In her mother's home, which she was "forced" to come due to her mother's insistence (she did not visited her for a long time, so she felt she had to), she looked at her closest friends greeting her in the doorway, wearing party hats, holding balloons, and blowing confetti to her face. Said friends was Anko Mitarashi and Yūgao Uzuki. The two of them ushered Kurenai in to the living room to see that the dining table there was filled with food, including snacks, drinks, even liquors. The living room was also filled with decorations and banners, one saying with large letters, "Jōnin Finally!" Kurenai then looked around to see her peers were here as well. Asuma Sarutobi, Maito Gai, Kakashi Hatake, Genma Shiranui, Hayate Gekkō to name a few gathered in the Yūhi household. Out of cornered of her eye, her mother came out of the kitchen holding more food.

"Dear, your home." Kurenai's mother smiled at her while putting down the food.

The guests then started shaking Kurenai's hand as the party started. Kurenai still shocked at the event right in front of her as her friend started congratulating her.

"Good evening, Kurenai-kun! Congratulations on your promotion! It seems your youthfulness has finally reached its peak!" Gai cheered as he gave Kurenai his signature thumbs up. Kurenai thanked him with a small bow.

"Yeah, I wondered when you're finally gonna make it, since you're the last one in our class to do so." Kakashi snide commented while not taking his eyes from his porn.

Kurenai sweatdropped at this. She knew Kakashi far too long not to take offence on what he said.

"Not everyone can become Jōnin at age 12 like you Kakashi." Genma retorted. "On the other note, congrats, Kurenai-kun." Genma said giving her a small bow which she returned.

"Kurenai-kun! I would like to congratulate you on such accomplishment! May Konoha's Jōnin strive even more with you now within it ranks!" Ebisu congratulated her while adjusting his glasses. Kurenai thanked him with a small bow.

"Kurenai! You really did it! Congrats!" Anko cheered as she gave Kurenai a bear hug. Kurenai thanked her and squirmed her way out of the hug.

"Congratulation, Kurenai-san!" Hayate and Yugao said in unison. Kurenai thanked them and noticed that their holding each other's hands.

"Yo, Kurenai. Congrats on your promotion! I invited my dad to come but it seems he's busy, but he wants me to give you this letter." Asuma said while handing her a scroll.

Kurenai thanked Asuma and unseal the scroll to read its content:

" _Congratulations on your promotion, Kurenai-chan. I always believed that your hard work for the village will not go unnoticed. You have been an asset to our village in these past few years and I thank you for it. Jōnin is a rank which is given to the elite shinobi with strong desire to protect the village and you certainly earned that rank. I appreciate your commitment and dedication but please remember what I told you about spending time with your loved ones and not to focus solely on missions. Your family and friends worry about you and I would like you to take a day off and celebrate your promotion. I am sorry that I cannot attend, but believe me that I am always grateful for you and what you are doing to the village. Send my regards to your mother also and once again, Congratulations!_

 _Sincerely, Hiruzen Sarutobi_ "

Kurenai smiled after reading the scroll. The Sandaime Hokage has always been a father figure for her. When she lost her father after the Kyūbi attack 12 years ago, Sandaime and Asuma helped comforting her and her family and since then she always respected him. To hear that someone as significant as the Hokage appreciate what she had done bring a warm feeling in her chest. She felt as if her hard work had not been in vain and actually have been acknowledged by the person she's most respected.

Everyone greeted and congratulated her and started eating and talking with each other.

"Yo! So? Surprised?" Anko asked while putting her arm around Kurenai's shoulders.

"Yeah, this is unexpected. But why though? I mean it's not that I'm not grateful, but is it really something to celebrate?" Kurenai asked, still couldn't comprehend.

"Actually, it's your mother's idea." Yugao chimed in while holding her drink.

"I heard from Anko-chan and Yugao-chan that you've been working nonstop these last few years." Kurenai's mother said worriedly. "So, I asked your friends to celebrate, and they all agreed!"

The party continued until late night and the guests started to go home one by one, congratulating her and thanking her mother for hosting the party. Kurenai and her mother currently finished cleaning up the house and relaxing in the living room sofa, drinking herbal tea.

"Ah, such a nice tea. It really is soothing." Kurenai's mother sighed in delight as she took another sip.

"Yeah, drinking tea after cleaning up the house sure is nice" Kurenai too took a sip at her tea.

"It's been a while since that much people came to the house." Kurenai's mother reminisced.

"Sorry for the trouble they cause you, mother" Kurenai said apologetically.

"Nonsense. The more the merrier, right? I like it when it's crowded because it's lively."

Kurenai smiled at her mother and put her cup to the table. She then looked at the pictures that's hanging in the wall of the living room. Her gaze then fall to one picture. It's a picture of her father, Shinku Yūhi, her mother, and a young toddler Kurenai in a group family picture, all of them bear a smile on their faces. Kurenai fell silent, deep in thought. She finally in equal terms in shinobi rank as her father, that of jōnin level. Her father was an Instructor that oversees the training of genin and chūnin-level shinobi in the village. He was like a hero to her. The shinobi who protected the next generation with his life by risking his life in combat. He died at the hands of the Kyūbi when the nine-tailed fox attacked Konoha. And ever since that her mother must be feeling lonely in this house alone. Kurenai's mother look at her now silent daughter and followed her gaze to the family picture.

"What's wrong, dear?" Kurenai's mother asked her daughter.

"Mother." Kurenai said, still gazing at the picture. "Do you miss father?"

Kurenai's mother was surprised by the question, even Kurenai was taken aback from her deep thoughts.

"I'm sorry, mother." Kurenai looked at her mother apologetically. "Forget what I said."

"Of course, dear. I always miss him. But he's at our hearts so I'm not lonely." Kurenai's mother put her tea down and smiled warmly at Kurenai while putting a hand to her shoulder.

Kurenai looked at her mother and felt a pang of guilt. She remembered the moment her dad sacrificed himself to protect her and her peers while they were still genin. The day that demon fox took his father from her and her mother. Rage started bursting from within her when she imagined the Kyūbi. Shaking her head, she decided to change the subject.

"Have anything interesting going on recently with you, mother?" Kurenai said as she took her teacup.

Her mother smiled at her and took a sip from her own teacup. "Well, while I was shopping for food this morning for the party, I saw that Naruto kid painting the Hokage Rock."

Kurenai heard that stunt by her peers in the afternoon. Apparently, Naruto decided to prank the whole village by painting the distinguished Hokage Rock. Naruto Uzumaki. A boy she did not even think twice when seeing him. His antics was infamous throughout Konoha, as villagers and shinobis alike had been the targets of his pranks. She wondered if the kid really is the manifestation of the demon fox. Rumors around the village suggested as such.

"Mother, you know about his conditions, right? That Naruto Uzumaki?" Kurenai asked. She never talked about the boy with anyone else except for now as she felt it was a subject that she wouldn't want to discuss.

Kurenai's mother looked at her daughter's flat face, as if trying to read her. She then answered. "Of course, dear. He's the bearer of the Kyūbi no Kitsune. My generation and yours know this."

"Well, what do you think of him?"

Kurenai's mother looked at her daughter's face again. She took a sip of her tea and closed her eyes then answered. "He's a lively kid."

Kurenai was shocked to say the least at her mother's response. Irritation unknowingly welling up from inside her. Didn't she know that inside the kid was the one who took her husband and her father? She didn't like the kid because of that. Well, she's not the only one in this village. Shouldn't she be feeling the same way? Was she forgetting the culprit to her husband's dead?

"Mother, don't you think you're taking this a little too lightly? He maybe a kid, but he's the bearer of that damned demon fox!"

Kurenai gasped at what's coming out of her mouth and the tone she used in front of her mother. She was supposed to be calm at every situation. She was called the Ice Queen among her peers for her stoic nature. Kurenai couldn't believe talking about the boy could get her this riled up. It must be because of her nightmares. For the past few years of overwork and exhaustion, she sometimes had nightmares about the demon fox attacking Konoha when she sleeps. Her vulnerability when the fox attacked the village always haunted her even to this day.

"I'm sorry, mother. I-"

"Kurenai."

Kurenai flinched at the tone her mother's using. It's the tone she always heard when she's a kid and did something wrong. It's her scolding tone.

"How can you be sure that the kid is really the demon fox?" Kurenai's mother looked at Kurenai in the eye.

Kurenai shook her head in defeat. She knew her mother has a point. How can she assumed the demon fox is the kid in disguise? But her feelings about the kid didn't change. The fact about her dad was killed by the fox still made her hard to acknowledge or even see the blond kid.

"I'm sorry, mother. I don't know what came over me." Kurenai apologized.

"I'm sorry too, dear." Kurenai's mother looked at her. "But, you know that he carried the fox does not justified you hating the boy."

"But why are you on his side? Haven't you see the way the other villagers treated at him? Why are you think of him differently?"

Kurenai's mother unexpectedly smiled. "He's just misunderstood. Those pranks, the way I see it, is so he can attract attention to himself so he won't be lonely. He actually reminds me of a certain black haired girl with crimson eyes in the past who always throwing a tantrum when her father is not paying her any attention." Kurenai's mother winked at her.

Kurenai blushed and look downwards to hide her embarrassment. Her mother giggling didn't help her case either.

Kurenai then looked at her mom drinking her tea. She was well within her 50s, which is evident by the wrinkles on her face, but that didn't slow her down from hosting and preparing her promotion party. Kurenai felt a pang of guilt as she was the reason she went through such trouble. She then looked down nervously and said.

"Hey, mother?"

"Yes, dear?"

"I know that I haven't visited you for a long time, and I really sorry for that. But thank you for throwing this party tonight. I really appreciate it." She thanked her while blushing a bit, embarrassed.

Kurenai's mother looked at her surprised. She then put her tea in the table and hugged her daughter.

"Anything for my baby." Kurenai's mother whispered lovingly to her while hugging her. Kurenai felt her eyes started to weep as she returned the hug. Even though she rarely visits, her mother still worried and cared for her. She really loves her mother.

After spending a few more minutes, Kurenai decided that she needs to go home and prepare for her official photoshoot and singing papers for the promotion to be legal tomorrow. She said goodbye to her mother and promised she would visit her more often. She checked her watch as it shows it ten minutes past midnight.

"Phew. I sure ate a lot of mother's food at the party." Kurenai said to herself as she jumped across rooftops to her apartment.

As she was heading home, her eye caught glimpse of a training ground. She stopped, still gazing at the training ground.

" _With a dinner that much, I won't be able to sleep for a few hours_." She thought. " _Maybe I'll train here a little bit._ "

After pondering for a while, she decided to train at the training ground, just enough to make her a little tired. She headed down the lane towards the training ground. As she stop sprinting and start walking casually to the entrance of the training ground, she heard something. Heighten up her senses, she could hear heavy breathing inside the training ground. Curious as to who was training this late at night, she hid her presence and approach the training ground. Climbing up a tree trunk with speed and agility, she sat at one of the branches. She then searched for the source of the heavy breathing. She looked at the center of the training ground only to be surprised.

It was Naruto. The kid she was talking with her mother a few minutes ago. " _What a small world_." She thought to herself. The blond looked very tired and seemingly out of chakra, as he currently holding a handseal that she knew all too well when she was an academy student.

"Bunshin no jutsu!"

Poof!

Kurenai grimaced at the sad and pathetic excuse of a clone he produced. " _Yeeesh, that's his clone technique? Even I could produce one at the age of seven that's even better than that thing._ "

"ARGH! I just don't know what went wrong!" Naruto began scratching his head with both hands while rolling in the ground. Kurenai sweatdropped at that.

"Okay!" He suddenly jumped off the ground and made the same handseal. "Again! Bunshin no jutsu!"

Poof!

"Again! Bunshin no jutsu!"

Poof!

"Again! Bunshin no jutsu!"

Poof!

Kurenai watched the blond from the tree branch, time after time making even sadder attempts of the clone technique each time. " _Of course, that wouldn't work._ " Kurenai observed. " _He's exerting way too much chakra for a jutsu that requires a small but precise chakra control._ " Kurenai continued looking at the desperate blond for a few minutes before he suddenly slumped down to the ground. Kurenai almost went down to check on the boy, only to be surprised with the boy getting back up while wheezing hard.

"I can do this! *cough* Iruka-sensei *wheeze* said that *cough* I can become a ninja *snort* by passing tomorrow's *cough* test!" Naruto said with half-lidded eyes that holds fiery passion that shocked Kurenai.

"HRAAAGH!" Naruto unconsciously began piling up chakra way even more than an average gennin could as visible blue streams of chakra coiling and turning in the boy's body. Even Kurenai was impressed by the sheer chakra the boy amassed.

"Let's go! Bunshin no jutsu!"

Poof!

Only to have the same pathetic clone appeared.

Kurenai held his head while giving a sigh. Surely this would prove impossible by a boy who had a large chakra pool but little to nothing chakra control.

"Again! Bunshin no jutsu!"

Poof!

"Again! Bunshin no jutsu!"

Poof!

"Again! Bunshin no jutsu!"

Poof!

Kurenai looked at the boy as if he had two heads. The boy's not stopping! He kept exhausting his chakra in vain. His will was the one that drove him! Kurenai couldn't see it any longer as she prepared to hop down the branch and taught the boy, only to stopped midway. Her mind suddenly filled with the image of the demon fox rampaging Konoha twelve years ago. An image of blistering fire surrounded the shopping district of Konoha as the demon fox roars. The image of her dad's being grabbed by the fox only to be pummeled to the ground that she always saw in her nightmares. Kurenai suddenly held her face, writhing in pain. These images that was popping frequently in her dreams suddenly appeared. She sometimes had nightmares like now when she was a teen and the nightmares appeared again these last few years due to overwork and exhaustion.

" _That damned fox._ " She thought menacingly. " _That evil dangerous hell spawn._ " She thought darkly while observing Naruto, who continued his training. All the sympathy that she felt disappeared instantly, as if she was reminded that the boy currently training to pass his academy exam was the one who stole her of her father. Kurenai stood up from the trunk she was sitting, glared menacingly at Naruto and shunshined away. " _That thing can struggle all he wants. I don't care._ " She thought coldly. As she lost her training mood and went back home to calm herself and to rest.

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=The Next Day=

Kurenai woke up this morning with a slight irritation at last night events. Her mother just scolded her for hating the demon fox who took her father. She still couldn't believe her mother sweet talked her into lulling her that that brat wasn't the demon fox. As rage started to well up, the images she saw last night started haunting her mind again. Shaking her head slightly, she went to her bathroom to take a bath to calm her nerves. After taking a bath, she put on a little makeup and headed out to the Hokage Tower, where she'll sign paper contracts and do a photoshoot.

The day had gone very smoothly. After officially ranked as jōnin by the Sandaime, who told her that she could have the rest of the day off, she met with Anko and Yugao at their favorite hangout café.

"So, you and Hayate? How long have you two been going out?" Anko asked slyly to the red-faced Yugao.

"W-well, it's almost a month now."

"Nice, Yu-chan! I wish I had a boyfriend, too." Anko cheered then wished wistfully.

"I thought you have a lot of suitors, Anko?" Kurenai asked while sipping her tea.

"Yeah, well none of them last long enough through the second date! Heck, last week this one guy started running hysterically after I took him on the first date!" Anko puffed her cheek angrily.

"Really!? Where did you took 'em?" Yugao asked while eating a slice of her cake.

"The Forest of Death! I wanted to show him a giant python!" Anko angrily slamed her first to the table, rattling everything on it.

"Easy, Anko! You'll spill my tea!" Kurenai scolded her friend.

The conversation then started bouncing from one topic to the other as they chatted away while eating desserts.

"So, Kurenai-san. I heard you're going to become a jōnin instructor tomorrow. Is that true?" Yugao aksed.

" _Asuma and his big mouth. He had to tell everybody._ " Kurenai thought annoyed. "Yeah. I've already looked at the potential gennins in this year batch and already submitted my squad recommendations."

"What? Kurenai as an instructor?" Anko exclaimed while checking out Kurenai's body from top to bottom.

Feeling a bit harassed by Anko's gaze, Kurenai shielded her body with her hands. "What you're doing, Anko?"

"Damn lucky brats!" Anko screeched. "I want to have a sexy instructor too!"

Yugao laughed while Kurenai blushed by her friend's antics.

"By the way, I heard Kakashi-san already booked the last Uchiha." Yugao gossiped. "Too bad huh, Kurenai-san. He seems to be the best rookie this year."

"Kakashi still doing this? How many gennin team has he failed anyway?" Anko retorted.

"Well, I'm not recommending him at my squad anyway." Kurenai shrugged.

"Oh look at the time! It's 6 pm! Ibiki will kill me if I'm late to the interrogation meeting!" Anko looked at her watch, a tint of panic in her voice. "Gotta jet! Smell you later, dudes!" And with that Anko left.

"Yeah, I have to meet up with Hayate soon." Yugao blushed a bit. "See you later, Kurenai-san." She too shunshined away.

Kurenai sighed as she didn't know what to do know. When suddenly a minor headache struck her as she held her head. The nightmare images appeared in her mind again. " _Stupid nightmare_. _Maybe I should go relax at home._ " She thought frustrated when she noticed a bunch of shinobis scattered from the direction of the Hokage Tower. "Something is going on." She spoke to herself. She had a glimpse of a chūnin with blue hair and navy-colored beanie with a Konoha symbol in front jumping at the rooftops. He was dressed in a typical Konoha chūnin outfit with giant shurikens tied on his back. Recognized him, Kurenai yelled "Mizuki!" The chūnin looked at the source of someone calling his name and look down towards Kurenai. Mizuki then leaped down to the streets where Kurenai was.

"Hey, what happened?" Kurenai asked.

Mizuki smirked on his mind. "It's horrible news, Kurenai-san!" Mizuki said in terror. "It's Naruto! He stole the Shodaime Hokage's Forbidden Techniques scroll!"

Kurenai was taken back. Naruto? The demon fox? He stole one of the treasured scroll of Konoha?

"It seems he want to use it to cause destruction on Konoha! I knew it! The demon fox is loose! We have to stop it!" Mizuki screamed as if it's the end of the world.

"Where is he?" Kurenai asked calmly.

"We're searching him by the orders of Sandaime! We don't know where he is!" Mizuki snickered inside his mind. Only he and Naruto knew the secret rendezvous point. He was the one that told Naruto to take the scroll in the first place.

"Okay, keep searching. And thanks for the info." Kurenai thanked Mizuki and Mizuki nodded and shunshined away.

" _So he's finally showing his true colors_." Kurenai assumed. " _This will be the chance to get rid of this stupid nightmare once and for all._ " She thought darkly, her eyes cold. She then looked up in the evening sky. " _Father, please! Watch me!_ " She shunshined away looking for the blond menace.

Kurenai sprinted through the rooftops as she pondered where she could find the boy. She scanned the area as she caught a glimpse of another chūnin sprinted through the rooftops towards the border forests. He had brown hair in a ponytail, dark eyes and a scar that runs across the bridge of his nose. She saw his dread expression as she managed to identify the man.

" _That was Iruka_." Kurenai thought. " _If someone know where an academy student is, it's probably his teacher._ " Kurenai assumed as she saw Iruka disappeared into the border forests. " _It's better than searching with no leads._ " She considered and hide her presence to follow Iruka. She concentrated chakra to her feet making her faster as she tried catching up.

Kurenai arrived at her destination. She hid on top of the tree's branches and was stunned by what she's witnessing. A confused and scared Naruto, with a giant scroll on his back, watched as his instructor, Iruka, was maimed by hordes of kunais by his other instructor, Mizuki. Kurenai then heard the bleeding Iruka screaming to Naruto to not give Mizuki that scroll. " _That Mizuki. He planned this._ " Kurenai assumed. Completing multiple B rank missions and some A ranks really increased her method of thinking as she continued observing and assessing the situation. She continued listening to Mizuki's and Iruka's conversation as she tried finding an opening to put Mizuki into her genjutsu, only to be surprised of what Mizuki said next.

"Twelve years ago, the Sandaime Hokage upheld a certain rule that cannot be broken." Mizuki smirked

"You idiot! No!" Iruka yelled to Mizuki, panic on his face.

"A rule that cannot be broken?" Naruto asked confusingly.

"Well, a rule that should not be told to you, Naruto." Mizuki snickered, eyes gleaming wickedly.

"Stop it!" Iruka screamed, blood gushing out of his body.

"A rule that shouldn't not be told to me?" Naruto whimpered, panic evident on his face.

Kurenai observed the situation. Mizuki's going to break the Sandaime's rule. The demon child would learn the truth. The nightmare images appeared again on her mind as she held her head. Although she respected the Sandaime's rule, it was her chance to avenge her father's murderer. She resolved to continue observing the situation.

"The rule is that nobody is allowed to talk that the fact you are the demon fox!" Mizuki laughed maliciously.

Kurenai looked at the stunned Naruto's face. Despite her anger and hate for the demon fox, even she flinched at the look the boy wore. It's as if his world had crumbled apart. Her anger and hate resurfaced as she listened as Mizuki continued to condemn the blonde, like how the kid is the killer of Iruka's parents and the reason why the village people always glare hatefully at him. The demon fox still caused tremendous misery to the village as the nightmare images assaulted her mind again.

Kurenai then took noticed on how Mizuki prepared one of his giant shurikens on his back. " _He's about to strike Naruto._ " She watched stoically as she saw the huge star blade towards the blonde. Her mind was still filled with the nightmare images of that day and her body stopped reacting. What transpires next astonished her.

Iruka shielded the demon kid! She watched at how Iruka was crying and telling Naruto that this would've never happened if he did his job at being an instructor better. Naruto then ran deep in the forest, still with the scroll in tow. She looked at Mizuki who scolded Iruka for doing something pointless as the kid will use that scroll to destroy the village. Mizuki then gave chase to Naruto with a limping Iruka also followed. Kurenai decided to capture the blond boy herself and join the chase as well.

As she searched for the kid, she recalled what happened earlier. "Why would Iruka protect the demon?" Kurenai thought to herself. "He killed both of his parents! Why aren't he livid!" Dark thoughts accumulated on her mind as she caught of glimpse of Naruto punching Iruka. Only Iruka turned into Mizuki and Naruto turned into Iruka.

" _Transformation technique_." Kurenai thought while hiding up into the three branch. " _But where's the real…?_ " Her eyes saw Naruto hiding behind a tree near the two chūnins.

"You know, Iruka. With a scroll like that anyone can do everything he wants. There's no way the demon fox wouldn't try to use that power!" Mizuki explained to the slumping Iruka.

"Yeah, you're right." Iruka agreed.

Kurenai listened and then look at the kid. The kid hanged his head low and was trembling. Kurenai couldn't blame Iruka. She too hated the demon fox, so she understood what Iruka was saying.

"Yeah the demon fox would do that. But Naruto is different. I've acknowledge him as one of my excellent students." Iruka said with conviction.

"He may not be the hardest worker… and he's clumsy so nobody accepted him. He already knows what it is to feel pain in your heart." Iruka reminisced. He then looked at Mizuki right to his eyes.

Kurenai was shocked by what Iruka was saying. Wasn't he a victim of the demon fox, like she did? Didn't the fox killed his parents? Doesn't he feel lonely? How could he said those things to the demon fox?

"He is not the demon fox. He is a member of the village of Konoha. He is-

-Naruto Uzumaki!"

Kurenai was stunned by what she heard. Iruka was acknowledging Naruto. She then looked at the blond and was taken back at what she saw.

Tears. Emotions flowing from Naruto's face as he cried his heart out at what Iruka said. Tears of frustration, sadness, loneliness, and mostly joy. The feeling of someone acknowledging you for the first time flow through Naruto as he wept and sobbed.

Kurenai was dumbfounded. The emotion that gushing out of the boy was something she didn't feel when the demon fox attacked Konoha all those years ago. He displayed emotions like any other human. That's when it struck Kurenai. Seeing those overabundant feelings flowing out from Naruto made her realized that Naruto is not the demon fox. He was a normal boy. A boy who cried tears of happiness like a normal child would. A boy who seeks attention so he won't get lonely. A boy who's hated unfairly for something he did not decide.

Kurenai felt her cheeks wet as she too felt tears flowing out and the nightmare images begun dissipating from her mind. It's as if something that's burdening her disappeared. All her worries about the demon fox wrecking destruction felt like a long distance memory. Her anger became guilt when she thought back at the times she ignored the kid all those years because of something he did not do. She felt foolish and stupid for agreeing with what Mizuki had said earlier.

Kurenai broke out of the trance when she saw Mizuki preparing his second giant shuriken to finish Iruka off. She tried to save Iruka only to stop as a blur of orange flew and kicked Mizuki hard enough to send him flying.

"Don't hurt Iruka-sensei. Or I'll kill you." Naruto said menacingly as he glared at Mizuki.

Mizuki who was caught off guard then stand up and mocked at how he was going to kill the demon fox and becoming a hero. Kurenai looked at Naruto who only make a single handseal. A handseal that was different from what she saw the night before. A handseal that she saw a lot of jōnins used in her missions.

"Kagebunshin no jutsu!"

The area was filled with smoke and after it lifted, hundreds of Narutos surrounded the area. Iruka looked around amazed and Mizuki had a look of terror on his face.

"Shadow clones!?" Kurenai was surprised. "And this many!?" She looked around her and saw Narutos all over the forest as they begun pummeling Mizuki to the ground.

"Of course! His enormous chakra pool enabled him to conjure hundreds of shadow clones all at once. His training yesterday must've enhance his chakra control enough to summon them." Kurenai mulled over as she watch the clones dissipating and a beat up Mizuki lying unconscious.

Kurenai then looked at the scene where Naruto was given Iruka's headband meaning he officially join the shinobi force of Konoha. She smiled as Iruka was tackled to the ground by the crying boy. Scanning the area for potential threats and finding none, she decided to leave the scene.

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Naruto was walking towards his home after spending dinner time at Ichiraku's. After escorting Iruka-sensei to the hospital, he decided to have dinner and told Teuchi-ojisan and Ayame-neechan about how he got his super cool Konoha headband.

"Man! 5 bowls of ramen before going to bed sure is the best!"

He then climbed the stairs to his apartment and search for his keys in his pocket, only to see a note on his door.

"Hmm? What's this?" Naruto puzzled by the note and started reading its contents.

" _To Naruto Uzumaki_

 _You are a strong boy. You have faced reality head on and did not succumbed to the hatred that was directed at you. You could have become the demon they told you are but you stand tall, never moving an inch about who you really are. You are an inspiration for me and I must thank you for that. An individual can become great by bonding through others and would become strong by such bonds. This is what you taught me and I am for sure will be rooting for you throughout your endeavors. Just know that being a ninja will have many challenges and obstacles. But by staying true to who you are, I believe you can accomplish everything you wish for. Thank you for reading this note and I too acknowledge you as a ninja of the village of Konoha._

 _Sincerely, Kurenai Yūhi_ "

Naruto felt tears welling up in his eyes as he started reading the note. Although some of the words used in the note he didn't get and confused him, he got the gist of what the note is trying to tell him. He wiped his eyes and smile at the note and opened the door and entered his room, rady to rest and star the next day.

"Kurenai Yūhi? Wonder who that is?"

 **Okay and that is chapter 1! What did you guys think?**

 **I have this story as I was reading through Kurenai's wiki page and his dad popped up. Apparently, Kurenai's dad was killed during the Ninetails attack. This make me feel like the dynamics between Naruto and Kurenai should be more apparent in the canon. So, I decided to write about it.**

 **I haven't established the relationship yet between Naruto and Kurenai, as I feel like letting the story grow and character development are important before establishing whether their, lovers, student-teacher, etc.**

 **If you guys think that this is interesting pleas comment! Feedbacks really make encourage me to make more stuff!**

 **Thank you for reading!**


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